


we gather strength as we go

by WisteriaReads



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: And also because it's such a missed opportunity, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Because of Reasons, Catharsis, Come on Rick!, Cultural Identity, Developing Friendships, Frank Zhang has ADHD, Gen, Goodbye kaleidoscopic eyes, Identity Issues, Introspection, Jason gets roasted for a bit, Late Night Conversations, Percy needs a break, Some Humor, brown eyes are also very beautiful, goodbye racist feathers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-09
Updated: 2021-01-09
Packaged: 2021-03-13 10:48:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,921
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28652256
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WisteriaReads/pseuds/WisteriaReads
Summary: In which Frank has a heart to heart and some late night conversations about race and culture ensue, Piper is ready to fistfight some racists asses and Percy can't catch any breaks.
Relationships: Background Percy Jackson/ Annabeth Chase, Minor or Background Relationship(s)
Comments: 5
Kudos: 39





	we gather strength as we go

**Author's Note:**

> So... This is a thing... I wrote this during the summer of 2020 and then as quickly as I fell into the fandom, I fell out of it LOL. But rereading the series again, I was struck with how badly certain topics were handled, especially re: race. The series and characters deserved better, so here I am. Projecting onto fictional characters. Trying to make it better. 
> 
> This is meant to be a cathartic piece for me since these are based on my own struggles, thoughts and things I wish were said to me. It might be something that is felt by others in Asian communities and others in the Chinese diaspora community. I hope that this fic emotionally touches some people and can bring some sort of comfort. 
> 
> Title is taken from Virgil's Aeneid
> 
> Also thank you Holly and Connor for proofreading. And another big thanks to tsigililimclean on tumblr for their insight on Cherokee culture

If sleeping as a bulldog helped Frank calm down, then prowling as a Siberian tiger was downright cathartic.

  
Much like any time he transformed into a different animal, the warring voices of Ares and Mars quieted from an all-out war in his head to a passive aggressive brawl at the library. Usually he picked some form of bird to roost up on the stern or bird's eye of the Argo II, but tonight, he needed the all-encompassing comfort that the tiger's form brought. It helped ground him - the feeling of the sea breeze running through his fur, the cool air a welcome contrast to the warmth held in by his thick fur. The lulling swing of his long tail, a steady pendulum of movement that soothed his nerves. The comfort that should the need arise, he could brandish deadly claws and wield a set of ultra-sharp canines that could tear through someone's jugular. Considering his dream, it did a lot to calm his mind.

* * *

  
It had started as a benign dream in the beginning.

It was of his first quest to free Thanatos. Frank watched a past version of himself go through the same motions and events, reliving the quest all over again. He observed as Percy controlled the Pax, the spray of sea foam  
erupting from behind the boat as they sped across the sea. Then, he was at the cliff face, spying the seemingly endless legion of monsters heading south to Camp Jupiter, his knees buckling under the terror and his heart picking a staccato rhythm. His dream then showed Percy's life-threatening wager against Phineas, the feelings of fear and anticipation coiled inside him like a snake as Percy emptied the vial's content into his mouth.

As far as demigod dreams went, the dream was incredibly tame, which instantly set Frank's hackles rising. Demigod dreams didn't just _happen_. They had meanings to them; told them of events that they weren't privy to and even the future.

  
Frank's dream self had followed when Frank, Hazel and Percy zoomed across the Puget Sound on Arion, the deranged gold eating horse, to arrive at the Zhang mansion. It stood as imposing as the day he left, the gables of the mansion rising above the trees like clouds ringing mountains. The back of Frank's neck prickled with anticipation as he entered the house and climbed the stairs, suddenly filled with a nervous guilt. It wouldn't have been the first time that he had dreamed of his grandmother since leaving her alone in the house. Yet every dream that she appeared in had left him shaken him to the core, leaving him feeling drained and full of guilt.

  
He had stepped into his grandmother's room when he felt his very essence bolted in place and his breath had frozen in his throat. Instead of finding Mars by his grandmother's bed, Frank had found the sleeping figure of Gaia standing in her viridian _chiton_ and patterned _himation_. An eerie smile tugged at her lips. Despite the fact that her eyes were closed, Frank had the horrible sensation that she was looking at him. She reminded Frank of those British dramas of smiling angel statues that his mum enjoyed watching occasionally. But at least then, he had the luxury of leaving or shutting his eyes tight, curled into the nook of his mother's arm. He had tried to run back to Percy and Hazel or summon their help, but he could feel his metaphorical feet dragged slowly under, his arms bound to his side by an invisible force.

  
"You will fail in your task and this meaningless quest will end." Gaia whispered, her voice soft like the breeze through a corn field. However, there was a sharp undercurrent of sadistic mirth laced in her tone. "Try as you might, you cannot stop my return. It is inevitable, just as everything returns back to the earth sooner or later. The blood of Olympus will spill and bring the collapse of the pantheon as you know it. As you sail across the sea, you are coming closer to assuring your own deaths. Painful and slow deaths await you. So, come to Rome. Return to your motherland and seal your fate."

  
He tried to retort back but gagged as a choking sensation wrapped around his throat. Instead, Frank glared balefully at Gaia before he glanced quickly to the prone form of his grandmother. Even if it was a dream, he still wanted to get her out of the crossfire. As if she had plucked the thought out of his mind, Gaia smiled malevolently.

  
“You continue this farce that you will save everyone but we both know that that isn't true. You only have to look as far as your own grandmother." She moved closer to the bed, fingers trailing across the bed spread.

"How do you think you'll be able to stop me when you could hardly save your own flesh and blood? All you have ever done is fail. You failed your grandmother and brought about her death. You failed New Rome by bringing the traitors to your home. And ultimately, you alone will fail humanity. Perhaps it might just be easier if I put you out of your misery."

  
Just as she finished speaking, Frank tumbled into a free fall and slipped through the floor. For a horrifying second, he could feel himself pick up speed and he braced himself to hit the foundations of the house. Instead, he continued to dive down until he plunged into the depths of the earth, flailing. He remembered lashing out blindly, the mud rushing into his lungs and filling his sinuses. Mud sluiced through his fingers as he tried to grapple his way out and he remembered sinking. Down. Down. Down. Panic rising. Searing pain. Dying.

  
" _Return to the earth, Frank Zhang_ ," came the pervasive murmur, still whisper soft, " _And let this be a reminder to you. A reminder of what is to come_." She let out a cruel laugh as his unconsciousness slipped away.

* * *

  
Frank had shot up in his bed, the sound of Gaia's laughter ringing in his ears, his heart hammering against his ribcage and his breaths coming in shallow pants. The feeling of mud and earth clogging his lungs lingered for a long time after he had woken up, suffocating and dark. It took a while for his panic to subside and he had attempted to go back to sleep despite the deep-seated anxiety. But in the end, his anxiety won out and sleep evaded him for a long time after he had startled awake from the nightmare. The seconds blended into minutes into hours. Even as his body grew immobile and heavy, his mind whirred.

  
The longer he had stayed up, the more circular his thoughts had become, and soon he was consumed with recurring thoughts. His mind backtracked and bounded across different thoughts in the way that only happens when sleep deprived. Instinctively, he recalled his memories of his grandmother and his childhood like a well-worn blanket. Easier times before his mother died in line of action and when he didn't have to worry about dying every five seconds. They were memories of watching her prepare the minced pork and dried squid for the _yook baeng_ , the cleaver thudding in a rhythmic tempo against the wooden chopping board, the sounds reverberating throughout the house. Memories of those weirdly over the top Chinese dramas that his grandmother watched every night at 9, with flying men in voluminous robes and picture perfect hair. Memories of her lighting the incense to put in the family altar, wiping pictures of dead relatives with a warm wet cloth.

  
But then his mind wandered and the questions that had been plaguing him since leaving Canada crept in and had only grown more unrelenting as time went on. Questions on his identity, the what-ifs of his past and the encompassing guilt that came with these questions.

  
Suddenly, the once soothing creaking of the ship turned ominous, and the cabin felt like it was choking him, too restricted and too dark. There had been too much in his head, a whirlwind of everything of emotions and memories and expectations. Gaia's final words in the mud echoed in his ears and sent his heart in an arrhythmic swing. He had to get out. Away from the stifling room and the unravelling thoughts, so he grabbed a hoodie and quickly shifted midstep, stalking above deck.

* * *

  
Frank was pulled from his thoughts suddenly when he heard a creak. Snapping to attention, he noticed that he had wandered over to the Argo's main control unit: a hulking mess of keyboard monitors, dubstep controls and Wii remotes that made Frank's head spin. The creak came from further down the trireme, near the ballistae. He would have relaxed had he not heard another creak and the unmistakable sound of an unsheathing blade, loud and crisp thanks to his enhanced hearing. Crouching on all fours and keeping low to the ground, Frank crept towards the centre of the ship, wary of any potential danger. Midstep, he changed into a panther, hoping that the black coat and padded paws would prevent the attacker from detecting him. Despite his silent gait, his mind raced with deafening thoughts of potential enemies and strategies to alert the others.

  
Rounding on the first mast, Frank sat on his haunches, muscles bunched like a spring. For a few seconds, nothing happened. Then he heard another creak, this time closer to him. Throwing his weight back onto his hind legs, Frank pounced, lips pulled back in a snarl to reveal his dagger like teeth and claws extended.

  
"Woah! Truce! Truce!"

  
In a moment of sheer panic, Frank retracted his claws and let out a startled meep before he collided headfirst into the assailant. His momentum knocked the two of them down in a sprawl of limbs and indignant squawks.

  
"Remind me never to spar with a panther. I also like not being used as a human scratch post, thanks." Piper groaned as she extricated herself from the pile of limbs. Frank's ears flattened in embarrassment as he pulled himself away from the girl before transforming back.

  
"What are you doing up? It's, like, 5 in the morning?" Franks asked, rubbing his head gingerly. A small bump had already started to form, but it wasn't anything a little ice compress couldn't solve.

  
"Technically it's five thirty. I- forgot that I was supposed to be on shift starting half an hour ago? Lost track of time whilst doing inventory and then got distracted wondering about what ingredients Coach Hedge used in his 'nature medicine' before I realised I had to be up here. Remember? The shift schedule… that you helped make with Annabeth?" Piper answered, her tone quizzical.

  
Frank, in fact, did not remember helping out make the shift schedule. What he did remember was _suggesting_ a shift schedule be put in place, before scolding Coach Hedge for threatening to clobber Percy on the head with his baseball bat for insulting some sports team? Or a person?

  
By that point, Annabeth had agreed to the suggestion and wholeheartedly threw herself into the task, hyper focusing on it until she had created a multicoloured spreadsheet complete with other duties the demigods should fulfill. But between being attacked by monsters constantly and the fact that it was a boat full of ADHD demigods, the rota was pretty much reduced to a vague guideline that they sometimes did when their attention allowed it.

  
But he nodded slowly, hoping Piper hadn't seen his perturbed face. Based on her equally confused face though, he had failed.

  
"Did I remember that right?"

  
"You might've? I only remember telling coach Hedge that Bruce Lee probably wouldn't want people to cudgel others to protect his honour." Frank answered, feeling awkward and stilted.  
  
The two stared at each other for what felt like forever. It was only then that Frank realised he hadn't interacted with her as much as he would have liked to. Sure, they had held conversations and they got along well enough, but he still hardly knew anything about the daughter of Aphrodite. What was he supposed to say? _Hey Piper, realised that we haven't_ _spoken a lot. What's your favourite colour?_ Frank mentally scoffed.

  
Piper loudly coughed, breaking the unintentional stalemate between the two of them. "Could say the same for you, though. Why are you up when you could be sleeping? I know I would be."

  
Frank gave a nonchalant shrug, his eyes turning to the boards of the Argo II.  
"Couldn't sleep. Also, too busy having an existential crisis about my identity, I guess. You know… the usual." Frank mumbled as he rubbed the hem of his hoodie, only half sarcastic. He looked up to find Piper's startled face, her dark umber eyes wide in shock. Frank grimaced. He could almost hear his Grandmother's voice say "It's not like Zhang men to self pity, young Yi Fai." He stood up briskly and brushed off the imaginary dust from himself before he shot her an easy smile.

  
"And with that, I'm going to bed! Night Piper! It was good seeing you!" He began, before he started for the stairs, his arms swinging with a light-heartedness that he didn't feel. However, Piper gripped his wrist and he was swung backwards, tripping over his feet as he struggled to gain balance. The next thing he knew, he was facing the mast and not the stairs. The open horizon and not the gaping and claustrophobic innards of the Argo II. Startled, he looked back at Piper with a question hanging on the tip of his tongue.

  
"You can't just drop that you're having an existential crisis at 5:30 in the morning and expect to go scotch free," she retorted, hands placed firmly on her hips. She raised a brow in a silent accusation before her face softened, worry pulling her brows taut. She sighed and ran a hand through her hair.

  
"Do you… want to talk about it? I've been told I'm a good listener." She asked, a small yet encouraging smile tugging at her lips. Frank hesitated, slightly wary of how much he should reveal. There was the added pressure of the possible rejection. RSD sucked. However, strangely enough, something in his mind told him that he could trust Piper, despite their lack of deep conversations. Looking at her, he had the innate feeling that Piper wouldn't judge him. _Must be an Aphrodite thing_. He mentally concluded.

  
He sighed deeply and leant against the bannister; eyes fixed on the kinks in the woodwork. Frank heard careful steps and shuffle of fabric as Piper settled to his right. For a few minutes, silence enveloped the two demigods, the quiet clap of the two masts and the rhythmic swash of the waves against the hull of the boat breaking the silence. Piper didn't push him to talk though.

  
His mother once told him that the hours before dawn broke were liminal hours. Not quite the new day but not the previous day either. She had told him how they were a time where some of the deepest thoughts emerged; a time of reflection and rumination. But most importantly, a time of quiet and a time where connections could be made in that quiet contemplation.

  
Taking a deep breath of the salt air, Frank turned his gaze skyward towards the stars and he smiled bitterly.

  
"I had a nightmare. About my quest with Percy and Hazel to free Thanatos." he finally said. He didn't see Piper turn her head, more so felt her potent gaze fixed on him. "Gaia appeared and taunted me. Mostly about how she had plans to kill me and her return being imminent, but whatever. She always says the next monster will kill me slowly and yet, here I am. Still very clearly alive." Frank shrugged offhandedly. "She's all bark, no bite." He let out a sharp chuckle before he scowled at his next thought.

  
"She-she taunted me that I was the sole cause of my grandmother dying. How I failed her and how I would inevitably fail in this quest too. And you know how the mind works,"he stated, shrugging. "You mention something and suddenly it's all you can think about. Even if you try to avoid thinking about it, it just keeps coming back. All I could think about was my grandmother. And thinking back on the dream, it made me realise that I never really got the chance to mourn her. To pay my last respects."

  
Frank felt the soft weight of a warm hand on his arm and he gave Piper a melancholic smile.

  
"It's stupid. Of all the things that Gaia has taunted me with, and this sends me spiraling into an existential crisis? Not the imminent death or the end of the world, but a dream about my grandmother?" Frank gave a bitter laugh, clenching his fists until he felt the bite of pain from his nails against his palm.

  
Piper shook her head, the hand on his arm a steady weight.

  
"No minimising in my house. It's banned," she asserted, "It doesn't have to be earth-shatteringly scary for you to be afraid of something. It still sucked. But they're still your emotions and thus entirely valid," Piper said firmly.

  
Frank shot her a stunned look. He had taken to minimising much of his feelings since fleeing New Rome. They had bigger things to worry about, like fighting Gaia and the giants and not dying. In the grand scheme of things, his grief felt trivial compared to the potential Armageddon. And that grief would only become more intensified if they failed in their quest. Besides, aboard the Argo II, it was easy to be swept along with the gung-ho quest mentality and the constant survival mode.

  
But as a result, it also meant putting off his own emotions until the greater evil had been dealt with. To hear Piper so easily dismiss this preconceived mentality that he had built himself felt oddly refreshing. But, simultaneously, Frank felt a hairline crack form upon hearing someone else validate his thoughts without criticism. It disturbed the self-fabricated dam of emotions and threw ripples across the supposed calm, setting off larger reactions in him.

  
"And it's not stupid. It's absolutely valid and you have every right to be upset and emotional about your grandmother dying," Piper said, bringing Frank out of his reverie, "It's not your fault that your grandmother died. It's Gaia's. Bringing up your grandmother? That's close to home." Piper said, her voice reassuring in the dark night, soft like the burbling of a creek through a forest. "Gaia also taunted me way back in December when my dad had been kidnapped. I remember the guilt and fear and anxiety. I can only imagine what you went through."

  
Frank shot Piper another small smile and patted her hand gently. He set his gaze on the horizon, watching the pinpricks of light flicker before steeling his shaken nerves with a deep inhale.

  
"I think… Another reason why it hit me so much is because it only really struck me that I'm alone in this world. Sure, I have found a new family in New Rome and slowly, with you guys on the Argo II. But my family line? The Zhang family? It's only me. The rest of my family line burnt up with the Zhang mansion."

  
Frank could feel a cloying feeling in his throat that left it hard for him to swallow, guilt swooping in his chest like a sparrow. He worried his lower lip in thought, and took a deep breath in an attempt to calm himself. It came out as a hollow and rattling breath, thick with emotion. When deep breathing failed to calm him, he drew his hoodie round him tighter, pretending that it was his mother's embrace rather than a thin cover of fabric. It was a pretty sad attempt at self comfort, if Frank was being honest.

  
" I- And you know, thinking back on it, I always took my grandmother for granted. I attributed a lot of stuff that she said to her being cranky and I often dismissed her efforts to teach me about Chinese culture or Mandarin and Cantonese. I remember how when she would start talking about our ancestors or China or the Chinese gods, I would zone out, thinking it was boring." Frank paused, feeling a spark of displeasure at himself flare up.

  
One memory rose up discreetly from his subconscious as he spoke; a near forgotten memory of his grandmother taking his toddler hands, still clad in baby fat, and writing his Chinese name, the strokes of the characters tickling his little palms.

"Zhang Yi Fai," she muttered slowly, emphasising the tones of the words, "It means righteous brightness. You'll be the brightest of us all."

  
It sent a stabbing feeling of shame as Frank remembered how as he began to grow older, he vehemently avoided his grandmother's lessons, and little by little, her eyes became more dismayed and eventually resigned. The anger that had flared up previously only writhed more violently in his chest.

  
"I distinctly remember referring to her porcelain as 'musty antiques' and thinking at some point that I wasn't Chinese," he barked out a bitter laugh, the sound dull and brittle even to his own ears.

  
"And now? Now I feel utterly disconnected from my own heritage and hardly know anything about it or its history. I feel like a fraud: too Chinese to fit into a western society and too western to fit into a Chinese one." he ground out through clenched teeth. He clenched his fists, feeling the bite of pain inflaming his self-directed frustration. A confusing medley of frustration, anger and bitterness swelled inside of him unbidden, rising with every breath he took. Frank wasn't sure if it was the topic of discussion or sleep deprivation that had incited this reaction, but it continued to snowball. This was anger given to him by his father; an all-consuming and brutal irascibility that tore away logic and rationality. The one that drove men to blood thirst and violence on the battlefield. It was an anger that was meant to be feared. The more he tried to calm himself, the more he felt the anger eat away at him. Writhing and twisting, his anger reaching a crescendo. Gritting his teeth, Frank ploughed on.

  
"The only person whom I could've asked is gone and with her, my sole understanding of our family line. I don't even know my own mother tongue beyond my own name and how to order dim sum!" Frank exclaimed. In a flare of frustration, he slammed his palms against the ship's side, the sound echoing across the vast expanse of water. But the action did little to alleviate his frustration and it reached its zenith, refusing to be constrained. To rein in his anger at this point was like asking a volcano to politely not erupt.

  
Frank glared out across the water, eyes brimming with unshed tears of frustration. "Who am I if not a fraud of a Chinese? Where do I belong if Chinese society or Western society can't accept me?! Can I even claim heritage to something I know nothing about?!" By this point, Frank's voice had risen to a restrained yell, his anger spilling over haphazardly, indiscriminately causing devastation as his self-control ran amok. His anger thrashed in his chest, as if it were an enclosed beast that had been prodded and goaded to venomous hostility. The beat of blood against his eardrums thundered in the quiet night and his heart thumped heavily against his ribcage.

  
But strangely, amidst the turbulent anger, there was a palpable undercurrent of grief. A grief that squeezed at his organs and left him breathless. Regret and shame tore through him, his chest feeling as if there was a physical weight bearing down on him. Before he knew it, tears had slipped from his eyes and he crumpled onto himself, his shoulders shaking and his lungs convulsed for air. A sob racked through his entire body, paralysing him where he stood. Anger and sadness clamoured for his attention and it left Frank feeling like his mind was being used as a mental battleground.

  
Piper gently took his shoulders and embraced him, holding onto his shaking shoulders. "Hey… it's okay. You're good," Piper whispered soothingly as she rubbed circles on Frank's back. Still caught in a conglomeration of conflicting emotions, he clutched at her oversized grey cardigan, the material bunching in his fists as he stifled a sob through ground teeth, silent but irate tears slipping down his cheeks.

  
He clung to Piper and his breathing became more erratic. More laboured. His chest felt like a paradox; simultaneously empty and numb yet pain clenched unrelenting around the emptiness. Simultaneously feeling everything and nothing at all. could feel pins and needles creep into his toes and his fingers, his hearing shorting out in one ear as it normally did when he got overwhelmed, but still he gripped to Piper. As a lifeline or as a way to keep the anger at bay, he wasn't sure.

  
"It's okay. Let it out. Let it out." she gently guided him down to kneel on the floor, and the two sat on the cold wooden floor in relative silence. Frank's shoulders shuddered as he held back a cry and Piper tightened her embrace. She hummed starlight soft, rocking Frank ever so slightly by the shoulders.

  
Frank wasn't sure how long they sat there, gently rocking on the floor. It felt like eons.

  
He tried to follow Piper's breathing, the slow inhales and exhales like the crests of waves. His breath stuttered through the first few repetitions; the ragged sounds dragged out his throat. It was even more difficult to breathe with the accumulation of phlegm in his nose. Despite it all, Piper continued to soothe Frank with composed instructions.

  
_In for five. Hold. Out for seven. In for five. Hold. Out for seven._

  
They continued to sit there, the night only disturbed by the sound of Frank's heaving breaths and the quiet coo of Piper's assuagement. Eventually, his breathing evened out and Frank withdrew his hold on Piper, sniffing loudly. He winced when he saw the wet spots on Piper's cardigan and looked down at the splintering boards of the deck, turning his face away to wipe at his tears and nose. He grimaced, curling a hand into a tight and trembling fist.

  
"Sorry, I didn't mean to startle you and sorry about your cardigan."

  
"Frank, you didn't and don't worry. You don't have to apologise. You've clearly been through a lot. I'm more concerned that you never gave yourself the chance to grieve and it's all catching up to you. You don't need to put up a front. It's okay to cry. It's okay to not be at 100% all the time." Piper replied fervently, her lips pursed together. She placed a gentle hand on his, a silent urge for Frank to look at her. He did so and met her eyes that glittered like smoked quartz. They were filled with sympathy and kindness but there was a slight hint of remorse. Looking at her, Frank felt his warring emotions abate slightly and he felt the tension leave his shoulders. He cast his eyes back down to the floor, recollecting his thoughts.

  
"You feeling better though?" she asked. Frank nodded.

  
"I have so many warring emotions… disbelief that my grandmother is really gone. A lot of frustration and anger at myself. Confusion about my identity. Grief that my grandmother will no longer be part of my life anymore. I'm just… words cannot explain how utterly at odds I am with myself," he stated monotonously. Frank stared at his upturned palm. They trembled slightly and his palms were littered with crescent shaped grooves, the pads of his palm were red from hitting them against the ship. His anger disappeared just as suddenly as it came and Frank suddenly felt self-conscious.

  
"I wish I had spent more time with her learning about everything that I could. I find myself at a point where I feel so alienated from both societies and I'm left wondering where I fit in. I spent most of the time that my grandmother was alive rejecting our culture and I'm so angry at myself for doing that. I'm angry at myself for letting others colour and taint my perspective of my own culture. And I'm angry that it took me losing my grandmother to realise that."

  
Piper gave a contemplative hum and she fell silent for a minute. For a while, Frank didn't dare to look at her and her silence was a little intimidating. But the hands that clutched his own were still as comforting and gentle as when she first placed them and that relieved Frank of any anxiety. So he waited for Piper to break the silence.

  
"I'm," she started a little hesitantly, clearing her throat, "I'm sorry that you've had to deal with this. It sounds like you've been through a lot, both past and present. Take as long as you need to grieve. No one is rushing you. Take the time to go through the motions. I'm certain that the rest of the crew, myself included, will be here for you." she smiled. "As for those questions, I can't give you those answers. They're for you to find out and you can answer them as soon as you're ready. At your own pace." Piper gave Frank a small smile, understanding evident in her eyes.

  
"But for what I know; you're Frank Zhang: archer extraordinaire, son of Mars and a general delightful person to be around. You're Canadian but you're also Chinese. You not knowing the culture or language doesn't detract from that. You are on your own journey. Just because you started the marathon a little late, doesn't mean you won't still reach that destination eventually. It's not a lost cause nor is too late to start."

Frank let out a wet chuckle, wiping his nose on his sleeve. They sat quietly on the floor, savouring each other's presence for a while before Frank stood up on unsteady legs and dusted his hoodie before he leant once more on the side of the ship. Piper followed suit.

  
By this point, the vestigial emotion that had ravaged his mind earlier had subsided and Frank's emotions no longer stewed heavily under his skin, his heart returning back to its normal pace. It still hurt and he felt a little numb inside, but it no longer felt suffocating.

  
"Is it an Aphrodite power thing where you know exactly what to say to me?" he asked half jokingly, tugging his hoodie closer to him.

  
Piper shrugged amicably. "Nah, Aphrodite kids are usually pretty empathetic and compassionate. Comes in the whole jurisdiction of being children of the goddess of love. Considering how empathy and compassion are pretty important factors in forming relationships, romantic or platonic."

  
Frank sniffled before he gave a hum and tilted his head thoughtfully. "Do you speak from a place of experience? About the whole culture identity topic? I don't know much about Cherokee culture, but I can imagine that it might be harder to reconnect?"

  
She hummed in thought and looked out to the dark horizon, the wind blowing her corn silk hair into her face. She spluttered, brushing her hair to the side with a mild huff of annoyance. She paused briefly, obviously mulling her words carefully.

  
"Not really. Even though Cherokee culture is more closed off than other native cultures, my Grandpa Tom used to love telling me Cherokee stories as bedtime stories. Stories like the snake song and how the stars came to be. He taught me Tsalagi principles and other Cherokee beliefs. So even though I was raised in California and away from my ancestral home, I had a fair bit of cultural knowledge passed down to me."

  
Frank nodded before he pursed his lips, feeling slightly discouraged. _That's what I should've done. I never seized the opportunity to learn and now I'm reaping the consequences_. He thought, bitter regret tinging his thoughts.

  
As if sensing his frustration, she shook her head, patting his bicep placatingly. "But that's my own experience. It doesn't make your experience any less valid nor am I saying it's the "right" way. There's no right way to go about navigating one's identity and culture. It's a messy road to traipse and each road is unique to that individual. It's such a personal journey. While I'm fortunate to be relatively well connected to my culture, other native kids may not have that and are finding their own ways to reconnect. Some may be angry for not having the opportunity to be part of the community. Others might feel trepidation, wondering if they could be accepted into their community. Others may feel sadness that they don't know more about their culture. But regardless, you are not alone in how you feel."

  
She smiled tenderly, her eyes shimmering like a glass bottle full of fireflies, warm and soothing. "Even though our experiences are different, I can sympathize with the emotions that you are going through. It's a tough position to be in, I'll admit, but don't beat yourself too harshly for the past. At least you are aware of it and you can start and make an effort to know more."

  
Frank nodded, fingers rubbing against a deep ridge in the wood left by a sword slash. The two lapsed into silence, and Frank couldn't help but feel like the space between them was charged with a delicate mix of energy, still raw and jagged from all the exposed emotions but holding a tenderness that felt like the brush of spring air; the promise of new things to come.

  
"Saudade," he muttered.

  
"What?" Piper shot him a quizzical look.

  
"Saudade. The feeling of longing for something absent that is being missed. A melancholic feeling that can be used to refer to the feeling of loss of either the past or future." Frank gestured in the space between the two demigods. "That's what this feeling is, I think. Saudade. A close approximation of the word in English would be desiderium; the ardent longing for something lost. My mum had this interest in untranslatable words, and this one was one of her favourites." Frank finished.

  
"Saudade… it's a nice sounding word. I think it's pretty apt in description."

  
Frank hummed in agreement and once again they fell back into silence, the echo of waves blanketing the two. Frank closed his still sore eyes, relishing in the sea breeze that wafted through his hair. His heart still felt the remnants of sorrow and anger, but it was like looking at an aged photograph. Tangibly there, but softened around the edges. He still felt a little emotionally numb after his outburst, drained in a way that he couldn't explain. Yet, speaking to Piper had cleared his mind more than he'd expected. There was a cathartic relief in letting everything go after keeping the conflicting emotions subdued for so long. Like a flood, his emotions released in a torrent of treacherous and volatile water, carving into the landscape before eventually smoothing out into a plain of interrupted cerulean glass. The destruction wasn't dismissed, but for now, it was calm and Frank could work on rebuilding later.

  
"I didn't want to ask this earlier and I'd hate to reopen wounds," Piper started hesitantly, "but you mentioned how you felt angry that you let others taint your perspective of your culture. It felt like an entire different can of worms that we should definitely address. Do you want to talk about it whilst we're here?" she asked lightheartedly, but her brown eyes were still solemn.

  
Frank shrugged, a slight grimace tugging at his mouth.

  
"There's really not as much to it as you think there is. I never really identified with being Chinese for a majority of my life. Funny how being surrounded by Roman and Greek myths makes one question their own heritage a little." Frank let out a small chuckle.

  
"A lot of my rejection was coloured from interactions with my peers at school. Maybe it was how an old _gwai lo_ threw a cigarette at me when I was the only one on the street, or how my peers mockingly called me slit eyes before asking if I enjoyed eating dogs. Or perhaps it was being told I had to go back to where I came from. Far from awful, but still not pleasant. I guess… from a young age, I had already rejected that part of myself and tried to be more "white", if that makes sense? It just...happens. I'm pretty resigned to the fact that it will happen again."

  
Frank spoke about these instances with a level of detachment. It no longer bothered him as much it once had. However, it would be a lie if he said it didn't get to him sometimes. Rather than get emotional about it and give these people any vindication, he resolved to brush it off and ignore them. For the most part, it worked.

  
Frank glimpsed at Piper as her mouth opened in disbelief, her eyes blown wide with shock. Her shoulders shook with anger and Frank realised belatedly that the anger was directed at the unnamed people of his childhood. She pursed her lips before she held out her arms and determinedly asked, "Frank, may I hug you?"

  
Bewildered, Frank nodded dumbly and she all but plastered herself to his front, her embrace surprisingly tight for someone of her physique. It felt bizarre being hugged with so much zeal by someone nearly a head shorter than him, as if she were holding him up.

  
"You know we literally just hugged it out earlier, right? You don't have to ask me to hug me." Frank chuckled softly, prodding her shoulder.

  
Piper swatted him offhandedly, the other arm still wrapped around him. "Semantics. Just… indulge me, okay? It's the thought that counts," Piper quipped flippantly before her eyes turned stormy and her grip on him tightened. She was silent for a while and Frank, seeing that Piper wasn't letting up any time soon, folded into her embrace, returning the hug.

  
"Look… I know you said that it's far from awful, but Frank, I'm sorry you had to go through that alone." She muttered; her voice muffled as she pressed her face onto his shoulder. "No one deserves that."

  
Frank hesitantly rubbed her back, propping his chin on her head. "It's okay…"

  
"No, it's not!" Piper retorted, eyes flashing fiercely. She dropped her forehead to his left shoulder and gently started thumping a fist on his other shoulder. "It's not okay. And I'm sorry that happened to you. It sucks that you have had to deal with this to the point where you've resigned yourself to it."

She held onto Frank a little longer and continued to thump his shoulder. He patted her, unsure of exactly what to say that would abate her empathised frustration. He didn't ask her to stop hitting him either since they weren't particularly hard hits, more like taps than anything else, but it left him more than a little baffled. She finally let go of him and stepped back.

  
"I want you to know, Frank, that they were scums. You are a kind person and you are one of the bravest people that I know. I can't say anything to erase what happened, nor can I do anything at the moment to beat those people up. But I'm telling you now. If you ever want to talk about it, you can always talk to me. If you ever want to rant about ignorant racists, you can talk to me," she said heatedly, "You can always talk to me. Got it?" she reiterated as she gripped his shoulders. Frank nodded carefully, still a little bewildered at her fervour, but he wasn't going to criticise her for it.

  
"Got it?!" she repeated a little louder.

  
Frank shot her a placating smile, brushing her hands off of him. "Fine! Yes, I'll talk to you about it! Happy?"

  
"Immensely." she replied, grinning up at him. Frank chuckled, scratching his head before he shot her a genuine smile. She grinned back and turned her eyes back to the horizon when she let out a quiet gasp.

  
"We lost track of time, huh…" she stated casually. Frank whipped his head up and spun around, unintentionally giving himself whiplash. Belatedly, Frank realised that the deep prussian blue of the night had slowly shifted into cool teal and muted greys of early morning without them noticing. The horizon was tinged with soft tones of fuchsia and lavender. Just beyond the cusp of the world, a honey warm glow bloomed, a reminder of what was to come.

  
"And the sun shone, having no alternative, on the nothing new." Piper uttered, leaning against the banister of the ship and smiling carefree at the glittering expanse of water.

  
Frank couldn't help but disagree slightly with that comment. Because the sun _was_ shining on something new: a new resolve, a new point of view, but more importantly, a new friendship. You don't just spend hours crying and hugging and _not_ form some sort of friendship.

  
The two demigods stared at the increasingly brightening horizon and Frank felt a small smile tug the corners of his lips, the ambient feeling of numbness lifting off of him ever so slightly. He turned to look at Piper and he coughed, breaking the fragile peace between them.

  
"And I… Likewise. If you have grievances about anything. People being a pain in the _podicem_. Any insecurities you might have. Random rambles like what your favourite colour is or what you think Coach Hedge puts in his nature medicine. Anything. You can talk to me too." he said through a timid grin.

  
Piper looked stunned and fell silent, her mouth agape slightly. It was a long enough pause that Frank could feel his ears flush until Piper's expression melted into a tender smile, the corner of her lips curling up like the soft edges of a leaf and she broke into a chuckle. At that moment, as the light hit her eyes, Piper's eyes seemed to change gold and shift to bronze, sparkling incandescent. But he knew deep down that her eyes were still their warm but deep brown that reminded him of home and his mother's favourite jacket, the trunks of the forest surrounding the Zhang mansion during the summer and the shard of fire agate that his mother kept by her bedside table. After all, shifting eye colour was a ridiculous notion, no matter how you put it.

  
"Of course. Holding you to it." she responded with a lopsided smile before she snickered.

  
"I don't understand how boiled gatorade, a bunch of leaves and those heat packs could possibly heal anyone but at this point, I'm too scared to ask."

  
Frank shot a sideways smile and let out a chuff of laughter. "I didn't think it was possible to distrust something more than Iris' gluten, sugar and soy free, vitamin enriched, seaweed based chocolate muffin simulations, but apparently I was wrong."

  
Piper shot him an incredulous look, shooting him a bewildered smile. "Iris? As in," she made a flicking motion with her fingers, "drachma into the rainbow? Instant messaging made convoluted?" Frank nodded. Piper let out a huff of wonder.

  
"I am both disgusted and mildly intrigued. What did they taste like?"

  
"I wouldn't trust them anywhere near my mouth, in all honesty. It left craters in the pavement during the battle against Polybotes. I can't guarantee what state your teeth will be in if you had them." he said with a laugh. Piper winced, rubbing her fingers against her mouth.

  
"Okay, not good for oral hygiene then."

  
Frank chortled. "We should have collected some before we set off. Use it in the _ballistae_. Or as mortar."

  
Piper let out a burst of firework- bright laughter. "Can you imagine pelting monsters with chocolate muffins?" She shot him an incredulous look; her eyes wide with amusement. "Imagine their faces! The sheer chaos of it all?" Admittedly, it did paint a humorous picture and Frank joined Piper in her laughter.

  
It felt light and effortless to laugh alongside Piper. He could almost imagine he was a normal teen, laughing about dumbass teenage stuff and not worrying about the hypothetical Armageddon. Frank felt a weight unclench around his chest and the numbness that had wound itself around his heart loosened a little.

  
The two demigods once again lapsed into a comfortable silence, watching as the sun rose beyond the sea's limit.

  
"You know, about what you said earlier," Frank started, licking his lips and tasting salt from the air. He could feel Piper turn her gaze back onto him in askance, "if… no...When- when we survive this quest, I think I might try and trace back my family line."

  
"Yeah?"

  
Frank nodded slowly, the idea taking root in his mind with slow certainty. "Maybe take up Mandarin. Or Cantonese. Maybe both. Learn a bit more about Chinese culture." he said carefully, taking in a deep breath.

  
"My grandmother may be gone… but I want to try and reconnect. Do good by her. But above all else, I want to do it for myself."

  
Piper beamed at him, her eyes crinkling at the edges and dimples forming at the corner of her mouth.

  
"And I'll be there for you every step of the way." she declared, teeth shining like pearls in the early morning sun. He returned the smile, with a little less enthusiasm but with no less genuine.

  
Their fragile moment of calm was ruined when Frank let out an embarrassingly large yawn behind his hand, his eyes heavy and a little sore from the tears shed. He could feel his knees protesting, ready to buckle at any moment. Alarmed, Piper smacked a palm to her forehead.

  
"Forgot that you were here first because you couldn't get to sleep." she remarked before she looked him straight in the eye. "Go back to bed and sleep, Frank. Sleep until you feel that you feel fully rested. I'll tell the others." she stated with a smile. Frank could feel the slight weave of charmspeak laced in her words and he instantly felt something warm wrap around him, enticing him to sleep. His eyelids grew heavy and he stifled another yawn. Shooting her a tired smile, Frank started to head back under the deck.

  
Despite the charmspeak, he stopped in his tracks and turned to face Piper, who raised an inquisitive eyebrow at him.

  
"Thank you, Piper. For talking it out with me. I- I really appreciated it."

  
She sent him another tender smile and inclined her head. "Of course. We're friends, aren't we?"

  
Frank grinned and started padding down the stairs, shifting back into a bulldog as he reached his room. He jumped onto his bed and pawed at the blankets to make sure it was just right before he settled himself in the centre of the mound. Closing his eyes, he let sleep overtake him and felt the accumulated pain and emotions sweep away, like the rain washing dust off leaves. And for once since boarding the Argo II, everything was calm.

* * *

  
"Where the hell is Frank??! Shouldn't he be here by now??" Percy yelled as he wrangled a snake away from his face before slicing it in half with his sword. Dust exploded onto his face and he spluttered, spitting out monster dust from his mouth. Piper backed up against him, holding Katoptris out, warning the sea snakes not to come closer. They hissed violently at her, but stayed clear of the blade.

  
"I made him go back to sleep a while ago!" She hollered in response, twirling out of the way of another sea snake that launched itself towards her ankles. Once she had dodged the snake, she drove her knife down into its blind spot, pinning it to the deck of the ship. It writhed angrily before it disintegrated.

  
"That's great and all, but we might need some extra weasle-y manpower. Or even a fire breathing dragon?! We should wake him up." Percy shouted back.

  
"Percy, don't you dare!" Piper exclaimed and she saw Percy falter in his step, eyes glazed for a second, before they cleared up and he leapt sideways to avoid another snake.

  
"Okay, how about we compromise. We wake up Frank, get him to transform, but it doesn't _have_ to be a fire breathing dragon. Literally anything. A komodo dragon??! Annabeth made me watch a documentary that said their saliva is super deadly!"

  
"Where's the compromise in that?!" Leo laughed from Piper's right.

  
"Actually, that has been debunked a while ago, Seaweed Brain! But I'm glad that you remembered that documentary!" Annabeth interjected suddenly, coming up to Percy' side, "Komodo dragons kill their prey by going for the legs and inflicting multiple wounds with their double-bladed teeth." She backed up against Percy before she rolled out of the way of a blast of acid. Percy yelped and jumped out of the way, shooting her an affronted look as he swung his sword to decapitate said acid blasting monster.

  
"So you made me watch a documentary series that wasn't even true?! 4 hours worth of lies??! For nothing?!"

  
"Not for nothing! You've enriched your mind and there's nothing wrong with gaining new knowledge."

  
"Annabeth, I swear to all the gods-"

  
Annabeth shot him an abashed smile before she darted away towards the stern where Hazel was.

  
"That's what you get for dating an Athena kid… you actually learn stuff," he grumbled under his breath, "Typical Annabeth behaviour; making me actually remember trivia. I both hate and love her for it." Percy sighed. Despite his scowl on his face, affection seeped from his words.

  
"This is cute and all but can we put a hold on the lover's spat until after we deal with our monster infestation?" Piper chimed, "And also, I still veto the idea of waking Frank up. He looked like he was going to fall on his face last time I saw him!" Piper replied, dagger held out in front of her.

  
A couple of snakes and some sort of bipedal seal creature circled around the trio of Greek demigods. They looked at their weapons warily but their eyes constantly shifted to the demigods behind the weapons and their gaze turned hungry.

  
"I say we wake him up." Leo piped up after a tense stand down with the monsters. There was a slight impish quality to his voice though, an inexplicable inflection in his tone that made it sound like he did it just to aggravate Piper.

  
Percy made a "there you go" gesture to Piper, an exasperated eyebrow quirked up to prove his point. Piper grumbled under breath, to Leo's amusement.

  
"But he's sleep deprived!"

  
"Yeah, and we're getting our asses handed to us!" Leo pointed out.

  
So Leo had _some_ rights.

  
Percy grunted in affirmation and he reached up with his left hand and a coil of sea-water wrapped itself around a sea snake and the bipedal seal creature, taking them by surprise. The water followed his hand movements and formed a clenched fist, restraining the squirming monsters. He tightened his fist without pity and crushed the monsters into dust. Piper gulped.

  
"Even if you tried, I'm not sure if you could. I charmspeaked him to go to sleep until he felt refreshed. So, technically, he could sleep for an indiscernible amount of time until his brain thinks he's gotten enough sleep and that could be in the next minute or another few hours. I don't know if the charmspeak will mean he's unwakeable either." Piper retorted back. Both Percy and Leo shot her an alarmed look, their eyes wide and mouth agape.

  
"WHY?!" they both cried out at the same time.

  
Piper huffed and threw her arms up in exasperation. "Because I wanted my friend to sleep in without worry? And I didn't expect us to get overrun with monsters. Also I just came off a night shift. A tired Piper never makes good choices!"

  
"When are we NOT overrun by monsters, Piper?" Percy exclaimed.

  
"Touché."

  
"Okay, so Zhang is out of commission due to a magic coma. What now?" Leo asked before he let out a column of fire at some seal monsters from ruining the mast.

  
Percy clicked his tongue in annoyance, briefly glancing over to Annabeth and Hazel, who stood back to back by the stern, his eyes roving around the deck quickly.

  
"I have a vague plan," Percy started hesitantly, "But where is discount Superman? I could really use his help with this plan." Piper shot him a displeased look, which Percy just shrugged at.

  
"What? Would it make you feel better if I called him Mr. Lightning Pants? Weather Boy? Pikachu? Sparky McBoom?"

  
"Not particularly, no."

  
"Then he will remain discount Superman until further notice."

  
Leo stifled a snort before he hefted a large wooden hammer from his tool belt to strike a snake off to the side, like a whack-a-mole. It wailed pitifully as it streaked across the deck, the sheer impact of the collision creating a scraping sound across the wooden floorboards.

  
Scanning the deck, he made a pained face before he tilted his head over to the port side of the ship towards Coach Hedge.

  
"COME AND GET SOME! COME CLOSER SO THAT I CAN KICK YOUR TEETH IN, YOU UGLY MUTTS!" he screamed, doing some sort of tap dance as he screamed bloody murder. "PREPARE TO BE ANNIHILATED! FACE ME, YOU LUMBERING COWARDS!" he yelled to the monsters. Behind him was an unconscious Jason, who was slumped against the side of the ship. Piper grimaced and was about to head over to check on how he was but then Coach Hedge began swinging his baseball bat erratically and Piper figured Jason was in good hands. Probably. Nothing with any sense of self-preservation would dare come within range of a reckless, belligerent, bat swinging satyr if they could help it. Even the monsters were looking at Coach Hedge's celestial bronze nail embedded bat with hesitation.

  
"OH COME ON!! DUDE!?!? Seriously?? How many times have you been knocked out?!" Percy exclaimed, clapping a hand to his forehead. Piper was about to retort back when she was interrupted by the ominous rumbling of the ship. It lasted a couple of seconds before a sudden jerk of the ship knocked the demigods and several monsters to the floor. The boat continued to rock viciously and Leo gagged and hacked at the motion, bringing a hand to his mouth. Boxes slid back and forth along the deck and the demigods dodged them with much struggle. But not all were lucky as the boxes ploughed into a few confounded monsters along the way and reduced them to dust.

  
In a cascade of water, a giant squid/prawn monster erupted from water. It let out an earpiercing shriek as it waved its plethora of gangly appendages, each about ten metres long with rows of gaping suckers on its underside. Prawn/squid didn't even cover its appearance completely, completely inscrutable in its design. It was a mess of a creature, with its jagged plates and squishy masses and tentacles and spindly legs. It glistened like an oil spill and was a sickly off white colour not dissimilar to mould or bones. It was like the gods had drunkenly selected its characteristics at random and gave the creating process to a bunch of oxen. Looking at it made Piper feel nauseous.

  
"You've got to be kidding me?? SERIOUSLY?! How many giant shrimps are there in the sea?! We literally fought one off the other day!" Percy squawked in indignation, jabbing a finger at the behemoth monster.

  
Apparently the squid thing didn't like the idea of being compared to a shrimp and before Percy could so much as raise his sword, a giant tentacle wrapped around him and threw him off the Argo II, chucking him behind it like a paper ball in a trash can.

  
"NOT COOL!" he shouted, his voice becoming fainter until he plummeted roughly 100 metres away from the Argo.

  
Leo swore a curse in Spanish as Piper got up to her feet, slicing through some monsters before she reached the side of the ship. "Percy!" Piper shrieked, aghast.

  
Annabeth joined her side, grey eyes wide with fear before they saw a whirlwind of rotating water lift up from the sea to fight unseen foes. Piper thought she heard Percy yell something that sounded suspiciously like _eat my pants and die already_ in Ancient Greek, but that could just have been her imagination. Annabeth sighed in relief.

  
"Is Frank coming?"

  
Piper mumbled out a reluctant, “Out of commission from a magical coma that I intentionally put him in." and scowled. _The one time I try and use my charmspeak to help my friends and this happens. I'll just use it on enemies from now on._ Piper thought, disgruntled.

  
"We should have stocked up on those nigh indestructible chocolate muffins…" Piper muttered darkly under her breath.

  
The grey eyed girl shot her an inquisitive look before she shook her head.

  
"Too much to unpack there at the moment. We'll have to deal with this ourselves." Annabeth responded grimly. The girls turned to the shrimp monster as it tried throwing their crates of celestial bronze and other materials that had been scattered on the deck into the sea.

  
"PUT THOSE DOWN, SQUIDWARD!" Leo shouted as he blasted the monster with a surge of fire, "WHY DON'T YOU PICK ON SOMETHING THAT CAN ACTUALLY FIGHT!! WAIT NO! NOT THE MAST, YOU BRUTE, NOT THE MAST! I MEANT ME!"

  
Leo let out a rapid torrent of Spanish at the monster and hollered with wild abandon. The monster wailed at another onslaught of fire before trying to lash out at the fire user with its tentacles.

  
"Yo calamari! You're going to have to do better than that!"

  
Annabeth sighed and turned a weary smile at Piper.

  
"You okay with prepping the prawn?"

  
Piper shrugged. "Sure, I guess, chef."

  
"Then I'll get started on the entrée." Annabeth declared.

  
The two girls leapt to action, Piper charging the towering behemoth as Annabeth ran to help Hazel with the remaining snake and seal monsters.

  
"I can't believe that the monster deemed the mast a bigger threat than you, repair boy."

  
Piper noted as she approached him. Leo shot her a disgruntled frown before it smoothed out into a mischievous smile.

  
"You know, it'd be real nice right about now to have a shapeshifting friend with us." Leo snarked back. She batted him on the shoulder, shooting him a bored glare. He let out a nervous chuckle at the deadpan stare, gulping audibly.

  
"Way to shift the attention. And really? Low blow, Valdez and you know it," Piper said with a smirk, "You can lecture me later. In the meantime, wanna make some prawn cocktail?"

  
Leo grinned with a manic light in his eyes, pulling another hammer from his magic tool belt.

  
"Thought you'd never ask."

  
The two ran into the pandemonium, yelling choice insults at the cthulhu prawn hybrid.

**Author's Note:**

> And so begins Frank's terrifying journey navigating DuoLingo on his demigod friendly device that Leo whipped up in two hours.He often thinks to himself "is learning my heritage worth enduring the passive aggressive owl that will literally hunt me down?"
> 
> Also RIP to Frank for attempting both Cantonese and Mandarin simultaneously because I get them mixed up all the time.
> 
> Btw, I made up Frank's Chinese name because _surprise_ , his name in canon was also inaccurate. 张义辉 is what I went for
> 
> Fight me, but Frank definitely had yook baeng (or however the fuck you romanise it)


End file.
